The heated debate over President Donald Trump's initial refusal to single out the white supremacists and neo-Nazis whose Charlottesville, Va., rally led to violence and bloodshed may mistakenly focus too much on the man, rather than his policies.

It took veteran civil rights leader Al Sharpton, no paragon of virtue himself, to make that crucial point, declaring Monday that it "trivializes" the central issue to argue about Trump's personal attitudes.

"He is a proponent of racism," Sharpton said on MSNBC's Morning Joe, adding, "I don't want to put him on a couch and deal with his psychological personal problems. I'm dealing with his public policies."

Indeed, since taking office in January, Trump's administration has reversed an array of governmental civil rights policies designed to protect minorities, often siding with opponents of predecessor Barack Obama's efforts aimed at greater equality.

"Watch what we do, not what we say," Attorney General John Mitchell advised reporters at the start of Richard Nixon's presidency. Here are some things that Trump and his top officials have done since January:

Voting rights: The Justice Department reversed Obama's policy condemning the Texas voter identification law, deciding the Legislature's revised version removes the discriminatory purpose that a federal judge initially found and is still considering.

Voter rolls purge: The Justice Department reversed the Obama position and approved Ohio's method of purging voter rolls in a case pending before the Supreme Court. Civil rights groups contend that Ohio's three-part test, starting with voters who haven't voted in two years, disenfranchises millions of legitimate voters.

Federal contractor oversight: The Trump administration proposed in its budget to eliminate funds for the Labor Department division that has policed discrimination among federal contractors for four decades, The Washington Post reported.

Pollution affecting minorities:The Post also disclosed that proposed cutbacks in the Environmental Protection Administration's pollution enforcement programs would eliminate a program that addresses pollution threats specifically concentrated in minority communities.

Limits on complaints about sexual harassment and transgender discrimination: The Education Department, according to ProPublica, has issued new directives that permit its civil rights enforcement officials to limit the scope of investigations in cases where complainants don't say explicitly their complaints reflect broader patterns of behavior.

Transgender people in the military: Without discussion or consultation, Trump abruptly declared in a tweet he was reversing Obama's policy of allowing transgender people in the military. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said he would not act without a formal order, and some military chiefs criticized the move, but Trump said later he was doing the military "a great favor."

Gay rights: The Justice Department intervened in a private employment lawsuit in New York with a claim the 1964 Civil Rights Act's ban on sex discrimination did not protect workers on the basis of their sexual orientation.

Affirmative action: The Justice Department is preparing to redirect some affirmative action efforts traditionally concentrated on discrimination against minorities to possible college admission policies that discriminate against white applicants, according to a document obtained by The New York Times.

Police brutality: A Justice Department review of agreements with local police was widely seen as a prelude to reducing probes into minority communities' complaints of alleged police brutality.

Holocaust: A White House statement marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day failed, in a break with past practice, to mention explicitly the six million Jews killed by Hitler during World War II.

War crimes: State Department reorganization plans would eliminate the Office of Global Criminal Justice, which has worked to identify war crimes and bring criminals to justice. It is also considering eliminating promotion of democracy from its mission statement.

Anti-immigration orders: Despite denials, the administration's January order barring short-term immigration from six predominantly Muslim countries was widely seen as implementing Trump's campaign promise to bar all Muslim immigration. The crackdown on illegal immigration from Latin America and the proposal to revise immigration laws to stress skills and education are both seen aimed mainly at the influx of Hispanics.

Cutbacks in civil rights enforcement in Justice and several other departments prompted the independent Commission on Civil Rights to announce it would undertake a two-year investigation into whether the agencies will still be able to perform their responsibilities under various civil rights laws.

Meanwhile, Trump's belated condemnation Monday that "racism is evil" and "the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups ... are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans" can hardly erase either his insufficient initial reaction or the fact he owes his political prominence to years of spreading a racist lie about the citizenship of the nation's first African-American president.

Carl P. Leubsdorf is the former Washington bureau chief of The Dallas Morning News and a frequent columnist. Email:carl.p.leubsdorf@gmail.com